Mr. Speaker, my hon. friend from Pictou--Antigonish--Guysborough is absolutely right. There is nepotism. Someone can tell government members they can use their house for the weekend and say “Thank you very much for the contract you gave me last week. By the way, I have an application for another contract this week”.
When one finds oneself in a conflict of interest in private as the minister and the chairman of the company likely did, it is strange that one can say “I am sorry, thank you for the use of your house over the weekend but I nixed your contract. I am putting it out for public tender but you can hike it by 10% to make sure there is extra gravy in it to cover your political contribution to the party I happen to represent”.
Corruption is a diversion of public funds for personal gain. Whether it is used to gain power, stay in power, have a holiday for free or put cash into one's own pocket, it is the same thing in different forms. It is corruption, something which should never happen in an open, transparent and accountable democracy.